


Nowhere Kids

by dementorsatemysoup



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Bipolar Ian, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, M/M, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:00:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dementorsatemysoup/pseuds/dementorsatemysoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A handful of instances when Mickey protected Mandy, and the many times she returned the favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nowhere Kids

**Author's Note:**

> This used to be an entirely different story, but that story really had no direction (at least I didn't like the direction it was going in), so I scrapped it and wrote this instead. So yeah.
> 
> Also, I don't know why all the long fics I write for this show always seem to turn into character studies (or close to it), but that's what happened here. This sorta morphed into a study of Mickey and Mandy's relationship.
> 
> Anyway thanks for reading.
> 
> Oh, and I made this M because of a few of the scenes. Probably could be T, but I want to be safe.

_Mandy's four when she first sees her father hit her brother..._

She's trying to pour herself a glass of milk when the jug slips out of her hands and lands on the floor, splattering the kitchen counters, spilling milk all over the floor. Mickey, who'd been carving his name into the table, looks up when he hears the crash, snorting. "Nice one, shit stain."

"Fuck you," Mandy retorts crouching down to pick up the jug. She carries it to the sink, standing on her toes so she can clear a spot for the jug, but she freezes when she hears the front door slam shut. She listens to the weaving footsteps heading towards the kitchen, noting the way her brother turns a sickly, gray color. Mickey scrambles to his feet and is at her side in a second, shoving her behind him, ignoring her protests.

Their father comes into the kitchen, stopping short of the entryway, looking down at the puddle of milk on the floor. He turns glassy eyes to his kids and demands, "Who spilled the fucking milk?"

Before Mandy can tell her father the truth, Mickey says, "I did. Wasn't paying attention." While he sounds like he's talking to Colin about cartoons, Mandy can tell by the way her brother tenses that he's scared, but at that moment she doesn't really understand why. She learns pretty quickly when Terry crosses the room and backhands her brother.

"Clean it up," he snarls and staggers out the room.

Mandy waits until Terry's gone before trying to comfort Mickey, resting her small hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs it off. He turns to her, a red handprint evident on his face, his eyes shiny, and snaps, "Leave me the fuck alone." He shoves her back a step, storming out of the room, and Mandy sniffs loudly, kneeling down to clean up her mess, hoping none of her other brothers come in and see her crying.

* * *

_Mandy's eight when Mickey goes to Juvie for the first time..._

She's swinging at the park, school having let out a little over an hour ago, when Marco Sanchez approaches her. She drags her feet across the ground, halting the swing, and fixes him with a hard stare. "What?"

"My turn," he says and shoves her off the swing, knocking her to the ground. She scrambles to her knees, grabbing a handful of dirt, intending to throw it in the asshole's face, but a sudden voice barks, "Hey!"

Mickey is stalking across the playground, a dangerous look on his face, his fierce eyes fixed on Marco. The kid tries to run, but Mickey has always been fast for someone so small, and catches him fairly quickly. Mandy screams, telling her brother to leave Marco alone, but Mickey ignores her, kicking the shit out of the kid. After he's done, he spits on Marco's face and snarls, "You touch my sister again and I'll fucking kill you."

"You're an asshole," Mandy yells angrily when Mickey approaches her, shoving him back a step, and stalks home,

She flips him off when he shouts, "You're fucking welcome!"

A few hours later, she's sitting in the corner of the couch, reading a magazine, listening to her brothers swear at the X-Box (it's been a piece of shit since Colin stole it from Randy Klitz two months ago), when someone knocks on their door. She waits, expecting one of her brothers to get up, any of them, but no one moves and who is ever at the door knocks again. Scoffing, Mandy gets up and stomps towards the door, muttering, "Assholes."

She pulls it open, looking up at the two police officers standing on the porch. She sighs and says, "Terry's not here." She goes to shut the door, but one of the officer's stops it with his foot, looking over her shoulder into the house.

"We're not here for Terry," he says slowly, his eyes falling on Mickey. Mandy almost slams the door, almost tells her brother to run and keep running until the cops can't find him, but instead she steps to the side and lets the police officers into her house. She watches as they put handcuffs on her brother, listening to him complain that he hardly touched that kid. The moment he's gone, she retreats into her room, trying to push down the guilt she feels (irrational as it may be).

She should have told Mickey to run.

* * *

_Mickey's is thirteen when Mandy hides him from Terry..._

Mandy hears her brother coughing most of the night, each cough getting progressively louder, keeping her up. The next morning, she's cranky and grumbly, and feels like punching the first person who even attempts to talk to her. Her brother isn't looking any better, his head resting on the table, his eyes watery as he tries to keep from coughing, his nose clogged.

Iggy pokes Mickey with his index finger. "Are you dying?" Mickey shoves his middle finger in his face. "I was just asking. Jeez."

After breakfast, Mandy, Colin, and Iggy get ready for school, but Mickey hasn't gotten up. Mandy gives her brother a worried look and asks, "You want me to tell the lady in the office you're not coming to school?"

Mickey shrugs, closing his eyes, and Mandy sighs, shaking her head. She follows Iggy and Colin outside, all three of them walking the five blocks to the bus stop, and she all but forgets about Mickey for the rest of the day.

When she gets home, she's smiling because Ian Gallagher said hi to her in the hallway, but her smiles wilts when she finds her brother still sitting at the kitchen table. He honestly looks like he hasn't moved, and he can't be comfortable sitting in that chair, so Mandy nudges his shoulder, immediately pulling her hand back when she feels how hot her brother's skin is through his t-shirt.

"Shit Mickey," she whispers jumping when she hears the front door slam. She hears Terry stomping towards his bedroom, grumbling under his breath about a run, and Mandy knows her dad's going to try and bring Mickey as back up. She can't let Terry do this, the last thing she wants is for her brother to pass out and get left behind, so she nudges him again, shoving his shoulder until he softly groans and picks his head up, blearily trying to meet her eyes.

"Wha?" he slurs fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Come on, jackass," she says jamming her shoulder under his arm, struggling to get him to his feet. Mickey feebly fights her, but gives up a moment later, barely helping her get him out of the chair. Finally, after calling her brother every name she can think of, Mandy gets Mickey to his feet, nearly dropping him when his weight leans into her, and helps him out of the kitchen, trying to get him to her room as fast as she can, barely making it.

She hears Terry's door open just as she closes hers, letting her brother fall onto her bed. She leans against the door, listening to her father's heavy footfalls. He grunts when he can't seem to find one of his kids, snorts, and then calls Uncle Ronnie. Mandy breathes a sigh of relief, resting her forehead against the door. After a beat, she turns to check on her brother, but he's already mostly asleep again.

* * *

_Mandy's fifteen when she tells her brother Ian Gallagher tried to rape her..._

Mickey's sitting on the couch, cleaning his gun, when Mandy bursts into the house. She's still in tears, humiliated because Ian Gallagher clearly does not have feelings for her, and she's so angry that when Mickey says, "What?" She spits, "Ian Gallagher..."

Mickey puts his gun down, slowly getting to his feet, and walks towards her. He has a dangerous look on his face when he softly asks, "What did Gallagher do?"

"H-he tried to rape me," she forces out, immediately regretting saying it. She knows, firsthand, what it's like to have someone force themselves on her, knows that Ian would never do anything like that, but she's upset and wants to see him suffer.

"He's fucking dead," Mickey snarls and storms outside, slamming the door behind him.

When Ian tells her he's gay, proves to her that her crush on him will never be anything more than that, she's hurt, but she understands and calls off her brothers. At first, Mickey doesn't want to let it go, wants to put Ian in the ground, but Mandy's persistent, and he finally stops hunting Ian.

* * *

_Mandy's sixteen when she starts dating Lip Gallagher..._

It starts as casual fucking. Mandy feels lonely, Lip needs someone to stick his dick in, so they hook up. Karen's being a bitch; they hook up. Mandy finds another guy who turns out to be a douchebag; they hook up. It's a cycle of not-quite-friends-with-benefits flings that slowly, over time, morph into them becoming a quasi-couple. Mandy finds herself staying over at the Gallaghers more and more, leaving her stuff lying around Lip's room, doing small things for him because she wants to; because she's used to it living with five brothers and that's the only way she knows how to show affection.

Fiona doesn't like her, but Mandy didn't give a shit. If she cared about every hood girl that didn't like her, she probably wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. The rest of the Gallaghers have no problem with her, and Debbie even becomes the little sister Molly could have been if Terry had been a better father. And it doesn't exactly hurt that spending all her time at the Gallaghers' gets her away from her father.

Lip becomes what Ian could never be for her. He becomes the boyfriend she's always wanted, not just emotionally but physically, and she finds solace in the fact that he's the first sexual partner that doesn't leave her hating men entirely. Until he's not.

When Lip tells her to get out, she does because what's the point of sticking around a place she's not wanted? She packs her shit and leaves without a backwards glance. When she returns home, she slams the door so hard it rattles the windows, and her brothers jerks awake, bolting off the couch.

"What the fuck, Mandy," Mickey demands when he's sure there's no danger, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Why can't I find one decent fucking guy in this fucked up town," Mandy snaps storming into her room, slamming her door behind her. She tosses her bag into the corner, falling face first onto her bed, and pretends she lives in a world where every male is like Ian. At least he's decent; too bad he's totally gay for some mystery dude.

Someone knocks softly on her door and she rolls her eyes. "What?"

It's quiet for a long moment, but finally she hears her brother ask, "You want me to kneecap him for you?"

It's a tempting offer, but Mandy sighs and says, "No, Mick. It's fine."

"Alright."

She listens as Mickey's footsteps fade away before turning onto her back, glaring at her ceiling. She can't be Karen fucking Jackson, she knows this, and she knows that's who Lip wants. He wants that blond twat, the same skank who broke his heart into a million fucking pieces when she left. The same girl who abandoned her son because she couldn't handle the fact that he's autistic. He wants that bitch, and Mandy can't be her; she doesn't want to be her. She turns on her side, wrapping her arms around herself, and squeezes her eyes shut. She'd been falling in love with him too, something that scares her a lot, and now she regrets all that time she wasted on Lip Gallagher.

_Asshole._

* * *

_Running Karen Jackson over had not been planned..._

Mandy finds herself behind the wheel of some dude's car, driving up and down the streets. She's clutching Lip's phone in her hand, looking at it periodically, replaying Karen's words over and over in her head. About getting pregnant again, this time with Lip's kid. About keeping him in this shitty ass town when everyone knows Lip can do more, can become more, if only he'd pull his head out of his ass. She's not going to let Karen Jackson ruin Lip's life; she won't do it.

She pulls the car over, and sends a quick text to Karen, asking her to meet 'Lip' at the park. After the text is sent, Mandy tosses the phone onto the passenger seat and pulls back into the street. She's been driving a little under five minutes when she sees Karen stepping off the sidewalk, and a ball of anger forms in her chest, nearly knocking the breath out of her.

Her aunt always told her that she's the best out of all the Milkovich siblings, but as Mandy presses the pedal to the floor she knows that's not true. It's never been true.

Later, when Mickey asks who she hit, Mandy almost lies to him; almost says she hit a deer on accident, but she tells him the truth. He doesn't judge her, lord knows he's done worse, but he does tell her to get the windshield fixed, before heading inside. He's been quiet lately, something that worries Mandy, but she doesn't have time to dwell on it now. She needs to get this car fixed before a cop drives by.

* * *

_Mickey's eighteen when Mandy finds out he's gay..._

"You try sitting on your ass while the person you love..." Ian trails off, his face turning hard when he snarls, "No, I'm sorry, I mean the guy you've been fucking gets married to some random commie skank." He throws his whiskey bottle across the room and yells, "Fucking Commie!"

Her best friend's words keep ringing through Mandy's head, hours after her brother's wedding. She's lying in bed, Kenyatta's arm around her waist, his breath hot against the side of her neck, staring at the ceiling. She hasn't seen Mickey in a while, but she did notice him swipe a bottle of jack before ducking out on the reception, about ten minutes after Lip dragged Ian home. He's probably off getting drunk somewhere, trying not to think about how much he fucked up his life.

Mandy should have known the marriage was a scam. Mickey's never been the type to get married, especially not to some random chick he knocked up. It makes her wonder if Terry found out somehow, if that's why he pistol whipped her brother. Mickey's lucky to be alive.

The more she thinks about it, the more things start falling into place, and the more stupid Mandy feels. She should have seen it before, should have connected the dots. Ian taking too long in the bathroom, Ian asking  _way_ too many questions about Mickey, Mickey spending  _way_ too much time around her and Ian every time they hung out around the house. So many clues and she had missed every single one of them.

She hears a crash come from outside and she sits up. Carefully untangling herself from Kenyatta, she gets out of bed and creeps towards her bedroom window. She peeks out, squinting into the darkness, spotting her brother sitting on the sidewalk, his feet in the gutter, his head bowed, the orange glow of the cigarette between his fingers the only light among the dark, Chicago street.

Mandy pulls on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt, grabs her blanket off the floor, and heads outside. Her barefeet are cold against the concrete, but she ignores the chill as she moves towards her brother. She startles him when she sits next to him, crossing her legs, and says, "You gonna sit out here all night?"

"Go away," he grunts taking a long drag on his cigarette.

"You okay?" Mandy asks after a brief pause, pulling her blanket tighter around her.

"Go away," Mickey repeats, his voice hard.

She wants to ask why he never told her; wants to know why he chose Ian; wants to know a lot of things, but she knows he'll get defensive and clam up. He'll deny everything until he's blue in the face, and Mandy'd rather not play that game with him right now, so she doesn't press the point. Instead she shares her blanket with him, ignoring the surprised look he gives her, and together they sit silently outside until the sun starts to rise.

It's the best way she can protect her brother; by not saying a word.

* * *

_Ian leaves a week later..._

Mandy watches as her best friend walks out the door, and she can't stop herself from snarling, "Really? That's all you're going to say to him?" Mickey shoots her a wary look, clearly wanting to know how she found out, and Mandy adds, "You're a fucking pussy."

She chases after Ian, finding him standing outside on their sidewalk. He has his hands in his pockets, his head down, and Mandy takes a moment to study her best friend. He's been good for Mickey, something Mandy can see now, remembering how her brother has been, not nice exactly, but less angry recently. He's also been a lot cleaner lately, too, which, now that she thought about it, would explain a lot. Clearly, Ian had been changing her brother, and now it seems like he's leaving.

"You know what," she starts startling her friend. Ian turns, offering her a forced smile, running one of his hands through his hair, "I'm sure we can do this some other time." She holds up the Nitrous in her hand, shrugging her shoulders. They both know it's a lie, but Ian doesn't correct her. Instead, he climbs the porch steps, wrapping her into a hug, and she returns it.

"Goodbye, Mandy," he whispers letting her go after a long moment.

"See you around, Ian," she replies softly, waving at him. He waves back and walks away.

Mandy waits until she can't see him anymore before turning to head back inside, stopping when she finds Mickey staring at her from the open doorway. His eyes are red and puffy, his wedding ring no longer on his finger, and a broken cigarette is gripped tightly in his hands.

"He gone?" he asks hoarsely and Mandy scoffs, shoving past him.

She gets about three steps before she stops, whirling around, and demands, "Why? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Damn it, Mandy." He throws the cigarette away, looking like he's about to slam the door. "Would ya just leave it alone."

"No. No, I won't. He's leaving, Mickey." Her brother flinches but that doesn't stop her from adding, "He's leaving and it's all your fault. Do you even care?"

Mickey doesn't answer, and Mandy sighs, rolling her eyes, and stomps towards her room, slamming the door behind her. She shouldn't have expected her stubborn brother to actually do something for himself for once. She knows he won't go after Ian, knows he's too scared of Terry, knows he'll stay married to Svetlana until the day he dies. All to make their psychotic father happy. He shouldn't _have_ to make Terry happy. Terry doesn't deserve to be fucking happy. He deserves to die.

Too bad no one has the stones to actually pull the trigger.

* * *

_Ian's been gone nearly four months when Mickey finally talks about him..._

Mandy gets the call at three A.M. She groans, rolling over, picking her phone up off the nightstand. She doesn't check who's calling, doesn't care who's about to get ripped a new one, and snarls, "What?"

" _Come get your brother,"_ Kevin says sounding tired and maybe a little worried.

"Which one?"

" _Mickey. He hasn't moved from his spot since he hooked up with that redhead."_

"Redhead? What redhead?" Mandy seriously doubts Ian came back, and even if he did she's pretty certain Mickey wouldn't hook up with him at The Alibi.

" _I don't know. Some chick. Can you please come get him. I don't think he should be alone."_ Mandy knows, since Veronica found out she's pregnant, Kevin has been in full daddy mode, and it seems like he's extending that paternal instinct to her brother. Mickey wouldn't like it, but Mandy felt a little better knowing her older brother had someone else looking out for him.  


"Sure." She hangs up, throwing her blankets off.

"What's up?" Kenyatta whispers rolling over to face her.

"Nothing," Mandy answers pulling on her jeans. "Mickey's drunk again." Her boyfriend mutters something and goes back to sleep. She rolls her eyes, finishes getting dressed, shoves her phone in her pocket, and creeps out of the house. It's cold when she steps outside, her breath misting in front of her, but she still walks the four blocks to The Alibi, even if she vows to kill her brother the first chance she gets.

Mickey has his head buried in his arms when Mandy walks in, Kevin standing over him with an ice bucket. "You gonna puke?" the bartender asks, setting the bucket next to Mickey's head, "You do it in that."

"Fuck off," Mickey grumbles, his voice muffled by his shirt sleeves.

"Hey," Mandy says and Kevin's head snaps towards her.

"Take him home." Kevin points at Mickey, picking the ice bucket up. He pats Mickey's shoulder and says, "Sleep it off, Mick."

It takes a bit of effort, but Mandy manages to get Mickey out of the bar (with some help from Kevin). Her first instinct is to take him back to their house, get a pot of coffee into him, but when she starts in the direction of home, Mickey seems to come alive and digs his feet into the sidewalk, muttering, "No. No please."

Mandy stops, giving her brother a wary look. Never, in seventeen years, has she ever heard her brother beg. You learn, pretty quickly, that when you're living under Terry's roof begging and whining only lead to bruises and blood. You either toughened up or you got the fuck out, and, out of all her brothers, Mickey took that lesson to heart. So, to hear him, practically pleading Mandy not to take him home, throws her for a loop.

But she still says, "Okay."

They end up at the park, and she lowers her brother onto a bench. He leans forward, resting his forehead against his knees, breathing shallowly. Mandy slowly sits down next to him, watching him worriedly, fighting the urge to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder. Every time she's tried in the past, he'd shove her off and storm away, so she sees no use in actually trying right that second.

Instead, she clasps her hands in her lap, and asks, "You okay?"

He doesn't respond right away, clenching his shaking hands into fists. His entire body seems to be trembling, and this scares Mandy. Her brother is falling apart right in front of her and she has no idea how to fix him. She opens her mouth to say something, anything, but he beats her to the punch. "I fucked everything up," he whispers into his knees, somehow hunching deeper into himself. "I fucked everything up, Mands, and now he's gone."

He draws in a ragged breath, slowly rocking back and forth, and Mandy ignores all her instincts and wraps her arm around his shoulder, giving him a half-assed hug. He doesn't pull away, doesn't say anything, just allows the comfort, and Mandy has a feeling it has something to do with the alcohol in his system. He's been drinking a lot since Ian left, spending more nights at The Alibi than at home. He doesn't talk to Svetlana unless he has to, has stopped talking to their father completely (not that Terry even noticed), and can't seem to get out of the room fast enough when his kid's brought up.

He's a mess, and Mandy wants to blame him, wants to yell and scream and remind him that  _he_ pushed Ian away, but she also wants to fix her big brother. Wants him to go back to being the Mickey she grew up with; the Mickey who didn't give a shit about anyone outside of their family. But she can't fix anything, not this time. The only person who can is fuck knows where, doing fuck knows what, and who even knows if he's going to come back.

* * *

_Mandy's eighteen when Kenyatta hits her..._

Mickey finds her in the bathroom, mopping up her face, and Mandy snaps, "What the fuck are you looking at?" She slams the door, but she still catches the scared look on his face. She presses the towel into her cut, flinching when the memory comes back to her, the familiar slap of a fist hitting skin, the way the pain burst behind her eye. When the shock wore off, she nabbed a pan off the stove and slammed it into his head. Nobody hits her and gets away with it.

Sudden screaming brings her back to herself, and she drops the towel, rushing out of the bathroom. She follows the noise, throwing open the front door, watching as her brother's fist collides with Kenyatta's face. Mickey's a head shorter than her boyfriend, one-hundred pounds lighter, and prone to picking fights that he cannot win, but he doesn't seem to care. Instead he snarls, "You ever touch her again. I will fucking kill you."

Kenyatta looks like he's ready to kill her brother, but he freezes when he hears a gun cock. Mandy turns, finding Iggy and Colin standing behind her, the former pointing a pistol at Kenyatta, and her boyfriend huffs before storming away. Mickey waits until he's disappeared around the corner before shaking his hand, clenching it into a fist to make sure it's not broken.

He turns his attention to Mandy and says, "Pack your shit."

"What?"

Ignoring the questioning looks from their brothers, Mickey stomps back inside. Mandy leaves Iggy and Colin in the doorway, following Mickey. She finds her brother stuffing his toothbrush in one of Svetlana's pillowcase. He adds a couple more things, muttering under his breath, but stops when he spots Mandy. "You gonna pack your stuff or do you want me to do it?"

"Where are we going?" Mandy asks after a beat, turning to head into her room. Mickey follows her, stopping in the threshold, watching as she shoves her things into a bag. "We going to Ian's?"

Mickey shrugs, scratching the back of his head. "Figured, if the Gallaghers can put up with me the past week, they can put up with both of us."

"Alright." She nods, zipping up her bag. Neither one mention the fact that Mandy's face is still bleeding or Mickey's knuckle has been split open, and they ignore the questioning looks their brothers give them when the walk out the door.

* * *

_Mickey's a week shy of his nineteenth birthday when he comes out..._

Mandy skips the party after the christening, feigning cramps, and spends a few hours watching some stupid show with Kenyatta. She tries not to flinch when he touches her, tries to smile when he makes a joke, but she keeps replaying what he did to her over and over in her head; can still feel his fist connect with her face. Her bruise gives a phantom throb of pain when he reaches for the popcorn, and she jumps to her feet.

"I'm gonna take a walk," she mutters when he gives her a questioning look. She retreats as fast as she can, nearly forgetting her jacket, and is nearly two blocks away when she realizes she's heading towards The Alibi.

The moment she turns the corner, her stomach clenches when she sees the flashing lights outside of the bar. She watches as her brother and father are escorted outside, both in handcuffs, her heart skipping a beat when Terry screams, "Get the fuck out of my house! You pole smoking queer!"

"Fuck you, don't worry about it," Mickey retorts his voice going up a couple octaves. "I've been staying at Ian's since you been in the can, bitch. Guess what we've been doing, Daddy, we've been fucking!"

Mandy doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, listening to her brother scream about his sex life to Terry of all people. It's a liberating moment for her brother, finally breaking free of the hold their dad always had on him, and in that moment Mandy's never been more proud of Mickey. Proud and scared; scared beyond anything she's ever felt because her brother came out in a town full of homophobic bastards ready and willing to take apart anyone who even remotely screamed 'fag.' And there's her brother, shouting about his private life for anyone to hear, in that moment not caring about the consequences.

It's going to come back and bite him in the ass, Mandy knows this, but she also knows she'll kill anyone who dares hurt her brother. He doesn't want her help, that's evident, but he's going to have to deal with it.

* * *

_Ian gets sick a week later..._

Mandy listens as Mickey screams at Fiona, telling her that they're not going to lock Ian up in a hospital. She gets why her brother is reacting this way; why he's so hellbent on keeping Ian with him. They're finally out, finally together in ways that Mickey never imagined he'd be with anyone he gave a damn about (in a romantic sense), and now everything he's worked so hard to keep is being ripped away from him. The guy he loves (and Mandy isn't stupid; she knows her brother is in love with Ian) is being taken away from him by something that he can't fight. It's not fair to Mickey, it's not fair to Ian, and all Mandy wants to do is scream and cry for her brother and best friend. Wants to demand to know why life would fuck them over like this after it finally seemed like they were figuring everything out.

But she can't, so instead she waits until the Gallaghers leave before slowly approaching Mickey. He has his back to her, gripping the sink tightly, his chest heaving with every ragged breath he takes, his shoulders shaking. It reminds Mandy of that night on the bench, many months ago, and like before she puts an arm around his shoulders, pulling him towards her.

He accepts the comfort for a couple seconds before shrugging it off. He puts his beer bottle down and leaves the room, closing his bedroom door behind him, and Mandy blinks hard, trying to clear her blurry vision, feeling a tear slip down her face.


End file.
